FOXBORO -- The Patriots of late have not imposed their indomitable will on opponents -- or announced with authority their five-time-Super Bowl-champions presence.

They are otherwise stuck in their old ways.

Which is winning.

Cutting through all the numbing overanalysis endemic to football, it is the winning that remains coach Bill Belichick's preferred artistic expression. (Like, duh.) The genius rolled his eyes and shook his head when asked during his post-game press conference on Sunday about his team's comfort level playing a low-scoring style, and whether he preferred that style.

"We prefer to win," he said.

The Patriots spent three previous uninspiring hours inside Gillette Stadium letting slip numerous opportunities to subdue the Los Angeles Chargers. They instead held on to win, 21-13, for their fourth straight victory. A Philip Rivers pass from the Patriots' 23 was intercepted at the 1-yard line by Jonathan Jones (first career INT) on the game's final play.

The Patriots merrily improved to 6-2 heading into their bye week. They occupy their usual spots atop the AFC East and as the wiseguys' choice to win the Super Bowl.

"Starting (the season) 0-1, and then being 6-2, (it shows) a lot of mental toughness," said quarterback Tom Brady. "So that's good. And we've got to keep it going. (The) biggest games are ahead of us."

The concern of the moment is New England having failed to score even 25 points in four straight games. This from an offense that was expected to be powerful even without Julian Edelman.

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"We didn't finish them off," said Brady (32 of 47, 333 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) after six trips into the red zone yielded only one touchdown. "I think we just have to do a better job of that. I know I've said that about 100 times this year. But it's tough. I mean, we're trying."

The Patriots came into this game having scored 16 touchdowns in 30 trips into the red zone over their first seven games -- a 53.3-percent TD rate that tied them for 15th in the NFL.

Lots of first downs, lots of yards. Between the 30s. As the great coach is wont to say, that is not what we are looking for.

"We're giving up too many big plays on defense (the Chargers' Melvin Gordon raced 87 yards for a TD in the first quarter) and can't convert on third down in the red area," said Belichick. "Those are two huge issues."

The New England offense stalling in the red zone contributed to Stephen Gostkowski attempting six field goals. He made good from 25, 36, 43 and 26 yards, but missed twice from 43 yards. Which kept the Chargers hanging around.

"I don't look at (the misses) like a Debbie Downer. It's just part of the game," said Gostkowski, the fourth-most accurate field-goal kicker in history (minimum: 100 attempts). "If you can't deal with it, then you probably shouldn't be here."

Earlier this season, New England fans were in a panic over the defense, which looked incapable of slowing down anyone. Patriots fans just figured Brady would have to outscore the defense's frequent failings.

Now the defense has gotten its act together while the offense has turned inefficient.

"They carried us for the first quarter of the season," said safety Duron Harmon about the offense. "I know they're going to get the ball moving and they're going to score."

The D's overall stout play continued, a few days after it was learned linebacker Dont'a Hightower -- probably New England's best defender -- will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

"Like I said, we can't replace High(tower)," said Patriots safety Devin McCourty. "(He is a) crucial part of the defense. But I thought guys stepped up as a whole ... It was everyone playing fundamentally sound and playing good football."

The first six quarterbacks the Patriots faced this season passed for more than 300 yards. The last two have not -- Atlanta's Matt Ryan (233 yards) and Rivers (212).

So what's next? The NFL trading deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. Not that anyone really notices sports' least significant trading deadline. (No team is likely to land a Yu Darvish.) Except, as with everything else that has to do with the NFL, the Patriots do the NFL trading deadline better than anyone. In recent years they muscled up for the home stretch by trading for cornerback Aqib Talib in 2012, defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga in 2013, linebackers Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas in 2014, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and linebacker Jonathan Bostic in 2015, and linebacker Kyle Van Noy last year.

New England last year also hurt itself, but only short-term, dealing linebacker Jamie Collins to Cleveland on Halloween.

The Patriots won the Super Bowl anyway.

Cornerback Malcolm Butler and backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo are in the same impending-big-payday position that Collins was last year. Might there be another shocker in the works? Only Belichick knows.

The Patriots right now are a far cry from the on-paper monster that inspired fans and media to talk 19-0 before Edelman went down for the season in August with a knee injury.

Should the Patriots still look so-so by New England's lofty standards come January, they would still strike fear into the rest of the NFL. They would still be the Patriots.

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